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Sugata Sanyal’s story
The Story So Far:
Shakuntala, the adopted daughter of Rishi Kanva and the real daughter of
Menaka and Visvamitra, was separated from her husband, King
Dushyanta, due to the curse of Rishi Durvasa who was quite infamous for
his temper and curses. During this separation, she was carrying the child
of King Dushyanta, their son, Bharat, who would one day lead the Puru
Kingdom and would also initiate the dynasty of Bharat. They did meet
after the curse was lifted (most curses had an escape clause).
What happened when Shakuntala left the ashram of Kanva:
Shakuntala had left the ashram with some escorts. Her close
friends, Anasuya and Priyamvada, were left behind. They were roughly of
the same age and were quite beautiful themselves.
Anasuya: O dear Priyamvada, Shakuntala has managed it quite
well. Hooked a husband who is a big king; she is also carrying his child.
She is all set.
Priyamvada: Anasuya, we should be happy for her. Shakuntala got
a head‐start, no doubt there, but we, too, need to set up ourselves.
Anasuya: What do you plan to do? Do we stand there below the
Big Banyan tree and anoint ourselves with sandal‐paste and other stuff?
Good husband material is rare (it holds true even today, same goes for
good wife material too).
Unbeknownst to them, two brothers – both broad shouldered,
learned and of royal heritage – were heading towards the ashram of Rishi
Kanva. Indrasen, the elder of the two, was a very learned person. He was
tall, a little dark but was very handsome. Chandrasen, the younger, was
endowed with a golden complexion, was equally learned, and was also
quite handsome. As the tension level was less those days, people were
generally quite calm and cool type. They had to learn their lessons,
almost all of them, as it was a ritual which can only be compared to the
coaching classes of the present days. And Gurus were not charging much,
except that the disciples had to do all the household chores at the house
of the Guru. They had to get up early in the morning, feed the cows, help
the Guru’s wife with the starting of the day’s cooking, e.g. getting good
quality wood for lighting the fire, fetching water, cleaning the courtyard,
Palki 9 @ calcuttans.com/palki – February 14, 2010
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and so forth. And in between, they also had to tend to thousand other
small pieces of work. That was the fee.
When Indrasen and Chandrasen entered the serene atmosphere of
the outskirts of the ashram of Rishi Kanva, they felt quite good. Finally
they came to that famous Banyan tree which these girls were talking
about. Anasuya and Priyamvada also came there almost at the same
time. We will see these cosmic coincidences again and again. Nowadays,
some branch of science has evolved around these and one can almost
accurately calculate the chances of various things happening. Here, as we
are a few thousand years behind the present time, and as mathematics
was still being taught at the feet of the Guru and not at the University
level, we will proceed with our present state of affairs, without too much
calculation. Some empirical values will be used now and then.
To carry the coincidence further, Madan, the God of love (what is a
love story without HIM!), was passing by this area. And as he was tired
from his globe‐trotting, he had decided to take a little rest. Brahma, one
of the Trinity of the senior‐most Gods, had assigned the Department of
Love to Madan. Madan was quite a cheerful character. He was also happy
moving around the universe and making people fall in love. That was his
main duty. He was given only a bow and a quiver full of arrows. When
Madan saw any possible and probable couple, his job was to take his bow
and arrow, and strike the couple with his shot. He was quite accurate in
his aim, and he hardly ever missed. But the very thought that he was
making so many couples fall in love while he himself remained alone
made him depressed and triggered acidity. Brahma therefore allowed
him to have Rati, a beautiful Goddess, as his wife. As Madan was not
really expected to shoot himself and Rati with his own love bow and
arrow, Brahma gave a special blessing that they would remain in love
through eternity. So Rati was safe from any chance of Madan straying
away from her, then on. Incidentally, Madan was known to have a roving
eye.
Coming back to the present moment, Madan, too, landed exactly
on the spot where these people were there: Anasuya and Priyamvada;
Indrasen and Chandrasen. Here comes a twist in the story. Madan was
continuously doing his duty. Having an experimental temperament he
had tried his hand on couples from many species: birds, squirrels, horses,
as well as the usual Homo sapiens. Incidentally, he had tried his luck on
Lord Shiva too, with disastrous consequences. His quiver was supposed
to be always full (auto‐filled from Heaven) but there was a short supply
Palki 9 @ calcuttans.com/palki – February 14, 2010
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of these special arrows from Heaven. Vishwakarma, the God of
Instruments, was paying over‐time to the subordinate Gods in his
department, to keep up with this problem. It was a supply and demand
issue.
Madan saw two couples, Anasuya and Indrasen; Priyamvada and
Chandrasen. But he had only one arrow and the time was critical. Parties
had just arrived, mild breeze was blowing, and there was Anasuya and
Priyamvada who were both sad without Shakuntala. They were doubly
sad with their own plight. Doing PhD and MBA was not so much in vogue
amongst girls; they were told that before the age of 20 (empirically
speaking), getting good husband was a necessity. And the hermitage was
a rather sad place for matchmaking. Madan was in a dilemma; he had
only one arrow, and two sets of couples. It was a great chance but the
situation was turning sticky.
By now, both the couples had seen each other. Anasuya got
attracted to Chandrasen and Priyamvada to Indrasen. On the other hand,
Madan had a different plan ‐ Anasuya should hitch to Indrasen and
Priyamvada to Chandrasen. As you may closely observe, even in those
days, complex love‐quadrangles existed. Later on, in the present times,
copious copying of these ideas is observed in various movies. But as no
ancient scriptwriter was smart enough to think of copyrights, such
copying is allowed freely.
Madan (to himself): What rotten luck! Here I am within the
bowshot of two girls and two boys of right and ripe age – and I have to
run out of arrows now! This is not done! All I needed was one more
arrow. Then I would have completed the job and would have gone home
to Rati and could have relaxed with a little Somrasa (alcoholic drink) and
we could have taken in a dance by Rambha, as well. (Rambha was a
famous dancer in the heaven.) What should I do? Should I send an SMS
to Brahma, and ask for his advice?
Of course, sending an SMS to God Indra would be more
appropriate and effective as Indra has huge experience. (Indra, the king
of all Gods, was quite high in the hierarchy of the Gods and was just
lower than the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He was quite a
character!) Madan was about to take out his cosmic mobile when a
brilliant idea struck him.
Madan, during his early age, was an apprentice at the workshop of
God Vishwakarma. He had a strong knowledge of Engineering Mechanics.
Palki 9 @ calcuttans.com/palki – February 14, 2010
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He took out the bow, put the arrow in it, pulled the string up to the
complete length, and let go. The arrow flew, and it struck people in this
order (please be careful and pay attention): it first struck Anasuya,
reflected from there to Chandrasen, then it again got reflected from
there to Priyamvada and then finally to Indrasen. Madan had used a
special technique (akin to the boomerang but more advanced) whereby
the single arrow kept bouncing from person to person and of course
made them fall in love with each other.
Now the real fun began. Anasuya and Chandrasen felt a strong attraction
towards each other. It was not exactly what Madan had planned, but it
was the best that could have been done with a single arrow, in a short
time span. Priyamvada and Indrasen also felt a strong tug between their
hearts’ inner core. No issues there either. The main hitch came during the
passage of the arrow between Chandrasen and Priyamvada. Priyamvada
got in to a double whammy. The arrow passage was such that any two
persons (of opposite sex of course) it touches in sequence, fall in love.
Priyamvada was caught between two persons, Chandrasen on the left
and Indrasen on the right. Please refer to the flow diagram below:
Palki 9 @ calcuttans.com/palki – February 14, 2010
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had his bow in one hand, quiver with no arrow in the other hand, and his
beatific smile.
Madan also felt quite distraught seeing Priyamvada crying her
heart out. He had a very soft heart and was very sympathetic towards
the female species. He had quite a few tumbles, with a huge number of
girls, while he was an apprentice God in this business, before Rati had
come in the scene. Rati, a tough lady, made sure that this got stopped.
Madan: What seems to be the trouble, my dear Priyamvada?
Priyamvada: (in half‐choked voice) Oh Lord, I am being torn
between two men. I want Indrasen, but you have complicated the issue
by allowing your Engineering Mechanics funda. Now that the arrow has
come from Chandrasen, my heart is not exactly under my control.
Though you Gods are allowed to have consorts, I am one‐man girl.
Basically I want Indrasen; else I will start “priopavesana” (fast unto
death). [Note: there were special allowances here. During this
“priopavesana”, one was allowed to take various liquids, juices etc, but
those details are for some other time.]
Madan: What can I do, my dear? I had only one arrow and I also
had to complete my quota of the number of couples shot. Brahma had
issued me a sharply worded memo the other day, saying that due to my
backlog the total head‐count of human race is going down. [Note: in
those good old days of sparse population, special incentives were offered
for early marriage and bigger families.]
Priyamvada: Whatever you want to do is your business. I want Indrasen,
and not both. Already Anasuya has scratched my face thinking that I am
trying to snatch Chandrasen from her. And you very well know that that is
not the case here. Your half‐baked engineering knowledge has mucked
up the whole situation. You better do something and NOW!! (Starts
crying)
Madan realized that this is serious. He has to undo this complex
connectivity. As mentioned earlier, there were lots of counteractions
possible, and Madan was tugging at his moustache very hard, to find the
optimal solution.
Madan to Priyamvada: Please find that arrow my dear and please be
quick with it. It is still potent. But its potency will run out after 30
minutes (again empirical value). Then you will be eternally stuck between
the two.
Palki 9 @ calcuttans.com/palki – February 14, 2010
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A frantic search was ON. Everybody was searching. Chandrasen
was a little less enthusiastic as he did not mind having two girls. But
Anasuya was also quite clear that she did not want to share her
Chandrasen. Indrasen was equally forceful in his search for the same
reason. Priyamvada was serious but was not able to see clearly as she
had cried and her vision was blurred. Finally a squirrel came to help
them. He was passing by. He simply picked up the fallen arrow by a make‐
shift tong and passed it to Madan without touching it. Madan had once
net‐practiced on a bunch of squirrels and there was a huge chaos
amongst them. So our squirrel was quite careful.
Madan took back the arrow; he had to put some special spell on
this arrow to make it act in reverse gear, and then made Chandrasen and
Priyamvada stand next to each other. Then he let go of the arrow. It first
touched Priyamvada and then Chandrasen, in the reverse sequence. And
the bond was broken.
Just to sum up, now it was two pairs, Anasuya and Chandrasen;
Priyamvada and Indrasen. And by then Rishi Kanva had arrived. Much
before any fresh complexity started again, both the couples asked for
blessings from Rishi Kanva and got it too.
This part was somehow missing in all the stories of Shakuntala, but
we were determined that the real story comes out to all. And of course,
Chandrasen and Indrasen took their lovely brides home and there was a
re‐marriage (each girl unto her chosen man) with lot of pomp. Both the
girls were quite clear that this marriage by arrow touching and a quick
garland exchange is not enough. It gives no scope to show the ornaments
and other finery. And they lived happily ever after!!!!
Palki 9 @ calcuttans.com/palki – February 14, 2010